Oilers Missed the Boat Again...
With the news that Vaclav Prospal has signed a $1.1 million one year deal with the New York Rangers, the Oilers really missed the boat if Prospal was available to them. Fans in Edmonton have been all over the inability of the Edmonton Oilers to add a third line centre to their line up in a much needed area -- faceoff %.Prospal at $1.1 million would have been perfect in every way. His faceoff numbers just over the last three years:
2008/09: 53%
2007/08: 54.6%
2006/2007: 52.4%
That alone, knowing he could have played a centre role or LW forward in any of your top 3 lines, makes $1.1 million one non-committed one year term, exactly the kind of player the Oilers could have used.
Powerplay would have gone up, he could have taken some pressure of the young guys, provided a little leadership and not affected the cap for the Oilers at all.
Of course it's a big if, that he would have been interested in the Oilers, but if he was, stuff like this disappoints me more than not landing a Dany Heatley ever could.
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3 comments:
You do have a point there....however, the Oilers still have too many forwards and, even if it's only a 1 million dollar cap hit, the Oilers still don't even have the room for that.....(after signing Smid, with Schremp left to sign.) They are right up against the cap. I am not disappointed at all. I think the Oilers might be cooking something up to get Kessel. Even if they don't, I believe they can fill their roster needs from within just fine.
the Oilers would've had to offer at least 2M to sign him. You can't compare the glamour of New York to Edmonton, and the Rangers are a playoff team. To think that Prospal could've been had for the same price is ludicrous.
@ Anonymous
The Oilers have $1.176 left in space. Bringing in Prospal would have allowed for the team to dump or bury a contract.
@ GagnerforGod
I don't actually think the Oilers could have signed him for $1.1 as NYR did. I wrote an earlier article on this suggesting $2 - $2.2 I'd be interested. Unless Prospal was against the idea of Edmonton for any price, that's a substantial difference.
I think Prospal is going to have the kind of year that easily warrants a $2 million contract
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